Tasks represent system activities that do not complete immediately, such as migrating a virtual machine. They are initiated by high-level activities you perform with the vSphere Client in real-time and those you schedule to occur at a later time or on a recurring basis.

For example, powering off a virtual machine is a task. You can perform this task manually every evening, or you can set up a scheduled task to power off the virtual machine every evening for you.

Note

The functionality available in the vSphere Client depends on whether the vSphere Client is connected to a vCenter Server system or an ESX/ESXi host. Unless indicated, the process, task, or description applies to both kinds of vSphere Client connections. When the vSphere Client is connected to an ESX/ESXi host, the Tasks option is not available; however, you can view recent tasks in the Status Bar at the bottom of the vSphere Client.